When we bought our house in Floyd County 20 years ago, one of the firstr thigs we bought was a full-ouse automatic generator. Having lived in the county kduring m y high school days, I remembered the frequent power outaages in the area.

It paid off quickly after a power outage lasted more three weeks hit the area shortly after we moved in. The Generac took control and kept the the house warm, the water running and the lights buring. Food in the freeer did not thaw and spoil and we could do laundry and take showers and baths as often was we needed.

This week, when APCO restored power to our hime shortly after 5 p.m. today, our current model Generac shut down and went back into ready mode. The outage lasted from Wednesday through Saturday, with 19 text messages from APCO during that time that said power would be restored in a matter of hours, then days and, finally, 11 p..m. Sunday night..

We understand chan such promised times can and do change, but four texts during that period claimed we had power when we did not. The latest posting on our APCO account page online congratulated us for having our power restored at 2:54 p.m. today, but it was not..

After three calls with two on hold for more than a hour, a lady in support said we were the only ones on the grid affected and restored who did not have power. Shortly after 4:00 pm, our generator shot down an our power remained on, but then blacked out and the generator kicked again for another hour before shutting down and power from APCO was finally restored.

This is the second time in recent months when we were notified that our power had been restored and we still didn’t have any. Eary, this morning, a text told us that “after assessment of tthe situation, we expect power at 113G…. to be restored by 6:00 pm on 2/16 (Sunday).” Seconds later, a new text read: “We detect power at 113G…. We apologize for the mistaken alert. If your power is out, please report it at http://apcopwr/outages.”

That was the tfourth time we had received that message over the previous 24 hours. Each time, we reported the outage again, but the power did not return.

it took two more phone calls and waits on hold before a lady in support in West Virginia said a problem still existed on our power and she promised to expedite efforts to repair the problem.. An houjr later, our power was restored and our generator shut down for a needed rest. The generator manufacturer recommends an oil change, new spark plugs and a check of the valve adjustment on units that run for more than 23 hours. Ours ran nonstop for 75+ hours. It will get a new batch of synthetic oil, two new spark plugs and a lot of attention to adjustment of the valves

We applaud the utility workers who spend long days and nights working in danterous positions to restore our power afrter storms. The wrath of winter storms this year has surpassed previous seasons and we owe them a lot. While we thank APCO for text alerts updating us on power outages, the contradictions in the many texts received caused more confusion and anger.

I apprecate the support lady staff member who took the extra steps to make sure the work teams knew that reports that we had power were incorrect and needed o be resolved as quickly as possible.

The support lady was working long hours and told me she had a home with a frozen heat pump and a water pipe that burst in her kitchen from the storm. We appreciate her efforts and were so glad she took control of dealing with our situation.

There are thousands more in and around Floyd County who have worse problems than ours and we hope they get help quickly.